Professional Documents
Culture Documents
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Product
This represents an item or service designed to satisfy customer needs and
wants. To effectively market a product or service, it's important to identify what
differentiates it from competing products or services. It's also important to
determine if other products or services can be marketed in conjunction with it.
Price
The sale price of the product reflects what consumers are willing to pay for it.
Marketing professionals need to consider costs related to research and
development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution—otherwise known
as cost-based pricing. Pricing based primarily on consumers' perceived quality or
value is known as value-based pricing.
Placement
The type of product sold is important to consider when determining areas of
distribution. Basic consumer products, such as paper goods, often are readily
available in many stores. Premium consumer products, however, typically are
available only in select stores. Another consideration is whether to place a
product in a physical store, online, or both.
Promotion
Joint marketing campaigns also are called a promotional mix. Activities might
include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations. A key
consideration should be for the budget assigned to the marketing mix. Marketing
professionals carefully construct a message that often incorporates details from
the other three Ps when trying to reach their target audience. Determination of
the best mediums to communicate the message and decisions about the
frequency of the communication also are important.
Value-based pricing plays a key role in products that are considered to be status
symbols.
Special Considerations
Not all marketing is product-focused. Customer service
businesses are fundamentally different than those based primarily on physical
products, so they often will take a consumer-centric approach that incorporates
additional elements to address their unique needs.
Three additional Ps tied to this type of marketing mix might include people,
process, and physical evidence. People refer to employees who represent a
company as they interact with clients or customers. Process represents the
method or flow of providing service to the clients and often incorporates
monitoring service performance for customer satisfaction. Physical evidence
relates to an area or space where company representatives and
customers interact. Considerations include furniture, signage, and layout.